$1m! Jackson fans don't stop 'til they get enough

An armoire with a note written by the singer sold for $25,750 (AP)

The contents of the home where the singer Michael Jackson lived with his three children just before his death have sold for nearly $1m (£640,000) at auction.

The sale on Saturday, which had a pre-auction estimate of $200,000 to $400,000, featured a kitchen chalkboard where Jackson's children had written "I love daddy", which sold for $5,000, and an armoire, upon which Jackson wrote a message to himself on the mirror, which fetched $25,750.

The auction also included furniture, artwork and other items from the rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive, where Jackson lived as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts in London before his death in June 2009.

The headboard from the bed where Jackson died was removed from the auction at the family's request, but the rug that was beneath the bed sold for $15,360. The estimate had been $400 to $600.

The most expensive items sold were a $35,200 watercolour painting of floral still life by Maurice Utrillo and a $46,875 oil painting of fishing village by Adelsteen Normann.

Julien's Auctions recreated the mansion inside its Beverly Hills showroom and invited fans to fill the space where the bed would have been with a tribute to the late King of Pop.

"Michael Jackson has the greatest fans in the world. I can see why he lived for them," Darren Julien, the auction house's president, said.

"They came out every day this week to bring gifts. It's unlike anything we've ever seen as it relates to a celebrity and their fans."

According to CNN, some items brought higher prices because of their infamy in crime-scene photos shown in this year's trial of Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray.

A small table that sat next to the bed where Jackson spent his last living hours sold for $5,000. It was listed for between $300 and $500. A number of crime-scene photos at Murray's trial featured the table, because several bottles of sedatives were found on it.

Murray was sentenced last month to four years in the Los Angeles County jail for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death on 25 June 2009. ap